Next week

NEWS
AS levels - a headache for universities

FEATURES
How did the universe begin? Sir Martin Rees tackles one of science's eternal questions

BOOKS
Which mattered more in the empire - race or rank? David Cannadine's Ornamentalism - his reply to Edward Said's Orientalism - reviewed

RESEARCH
Holiday jobs: our series starts with time spent in a US marine biology lab

TEACHING
A novel introductory course on statistics leads to research on learning